History Film / RomanJIsraelEsq

* NotGoodWithPeople: Roman is very bad at interacting with others. It's not a problem at first, when he's just handling the writing and research side of things, but when he actually has to talk to someone, he falls apart.

* AmbiguousDisorder: It's hinted frequently that Roman is somewhere on the spectrum of autism, given his poor social skills, encyclopedic legal knowledge and the obsessive impulse toward social justice (at first).

* CourtroomAntic: Deconstructed. The first time Roman has to step into a courtroom, his unprofessional conduct gets him held in contempt.

Starring Creator/DenzelWashington as the titular lawyer, ''Roman J. Israel, esq.'' is a legal drama written and directed by Dan Gilroy. Basically, take ''Film/TheVerdict'' and turn the characters and premise on its head, and you've got this movie.

Despite its rather tepid reception, the film is considered to be one of Washinton's finest performances, netting him several award nominations. It is unique among other films in the genre due to its scarily cynical and realistic focus on the legal industry itself.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Roman is killed for turning in CJ for the money (most of which is returned unspent with a promise to pay back the rest), but George decides to post humously file Roman's plea-bargaining reform class-action suit.]]

* AmbiguousDisorder: It's hinted frequently that Roman is somewhere on the spectrum.

Roman Israel is a brilliant, idealistic defense lawyer who is severely lacking in interpersonal skills, working in a small firm led by civil rights veteran William Jackson. When Jackson falls ill, Roman is forced to interact with opposing council and clients for the first time, which he botches horribly. When Jackson dies shortly after, Roman, incapable of running the firm on his own, is out of a job. When he has trouble finding a paying job that accords with his values, he takes a job at a large firm at the invitation of the high-powered former student of Jackson, George Pierce. Roman repeatedly tries and fails to exercise his passion for social justice, but a series of unfortunate events robs him of his idealism, making him decide to shift to a more mercenary worldview.

Starring Creator/DenzelWashington as the titular lawyer, ''Roman J. Israel, esq.'' is a legal drama written and directed by Dan Gilroy.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Roman's attempts to give a speech to a law school class are derailed by criticizing the male students for being seated while two female students are standing. He then is, in turn, criticized for being sexist. It's even lampshaded, one of the girls pointing out "it isn't 40 years ago."

* ImportantHaircut: His afro is emblematic of the hopeful era when he started practicing. He cuts it off when he loses his idealism.

* CrusadingLawyer: Deconstructed. Being this caused Jackson's firm to stay in the red, leading him to rely on loans from friends and occasionally taking a case just for the money. Roman attempts to do this as well, which fails miserably because there's

* SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids: Discussed when Pierce attempts to convince Roman to take a job at his firm

!!Tropes found in ''Roman J. Israel, Esq.'':

-> I don’t have another second to waste, telling people to not sleep so tight,
trying to turn things around. Toward what? Some glory of fantasy over the real
world? All I ever did was run around with too much to do, feeling guilty all the
time, flat broke, it’s quite nearly killed me.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Roman is killed for turning in CJ for the money (most of which is returned unspent with a promise to pay back the rest), but George decides to posthumously file Roman's plea-bargaining reform class-action suit.]]

''The Wife'' is a 2018 film starring Creator/GlennClose as the overlooked wife of a world-renowned, Nobel Prize-winning novelist.

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!!Tropes found in ''TheWife'':

* {[Foreshadowing}}: Joe doesn't recognize the name of one of his own characters.
* ObliviousToTheirOwnDescription: Joe tells his son Max that the couple in his short story (an insufferable blowhard and silently suffering wife) are a bit of a cliche. Joan, at least, seem to realize that they're based on her and Joe.
* TheReveal: [[spoiler:All of Joe's work was ghost-written by Joan.]]
* YourCheatingHeart: Joe has had multiple affairs over the course of their marriage.

''Roman J. Israel, Esq.'' is a 2017 film starring Creator/DenzelWashington as a struggling civil rights lawyer.

!!Tropes found in ''Roman J. Israel, Esq.'':

* AmbiguousDisorder: It's hinted frequently that Roman is somewhere on the spectrum.
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Roman is killed for turning in CJ for the money (most of which is returned unspent with a promise to pay back the rest), but George decides to posthumously file Roman's plea-bargaining reform class-action suit.]]
* EasilyForgiven: George Pierce eventually decides he was too hard on Roman even though Roman's screw-up indirectly led to his client's death.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Behind his slick shark exterior, George really does want to make the world a better place.
* SoapboxSadie: Roman will preach all day long, which is why he mostly handles research rather than courtroom arguments.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Roman is killed for turning in CJ for the money (most of it is returned unspent with a promise to pay back the rest), but George decides to posthumously file Roman's plea-bargaining reform class-action suit.]]

* AmbiguousDisorder: It's hinted frequently that Roman is somewhere on the spectrum

* SoapboxSadie: Roman will preach all day long, which is why he mostly handles research rather than courtroom arguments.
* ThenLetMeBeEvil: After a particularly bad day, Roman decides to break bad.

* SoapboxSadie: Roman will preach all day long, which is why he mostly handle research rather than courtroom arguments.